A Young Arcanum Scholar
by GeekGothHybrid
Summary: Alex stood, paralyzed, unable to do anything, none of us could do anything to stop her, I thought. That thought sent a shiver of fear down my spine. She let the women drop, and wiped her face of blood with her fingers and licked them. “Do you believe now?
1. Prologue

A Young Arcanum Scholar By Josh T.

Prologue

I moved down the aisle of the local library using my finger to search the right book. I could not find the right book in that aisle I must have read the wrong aisle on the computer I thought to myself. I moved to the next aisle to the left. I saw someone looking for a book, not that many people in the library at this late hour. I moved down the aisle until I found the book I wanted T_he Vampire: Klaxon_ I opened to the blurb and started to read. "Hey, kid," I heard a nearby voice say, I looked at the guy that I now noticed was wearing a green cloak. "Are you talking to me?" I asked to him. "Yes I am," he said in a deep but soft voice "I see you like vampire books," he stated. "Yeah, whats it to you," I asked raising an eyebrow. "How would you like to learn about real vampires?" he asked. I eyed him strangely "Are you serious?" I asked. "I've never been more serious," he said very seriously. "Are you crazy?" I asked, he sighed "I..." He stopped his sentence as a beautiful women with long curly brown hair in a dark green dress walked towards us.

"Hello Alex," She said with a voice of silk. He pushed me behind him but to the side, his left arm spiting us physically. "Hello Alessia, what are you doing out here, in a library of all places, I bet your own library is larger then this one," He said to her. "Awww whats wrong Alex, you afraid I do good on my death threats this time." I saw him shiver slightly, "Not nearly as worried that you might try something else," he said coldly to her. "Please like what, take your little student, I bet he has no idea what is going on. Do you son?" she asked me. "Don't answer that," he told me fiercely. "You do have a short fuse tonight don't you," She said. I barely saw it when she moved behind both me and Alex, I barely felt it when she lifted me up with one arm across my entire body and jumped back a step. After a moment he turned around, horror on his face, he reached into his cloak. "Now now, we don't want to cause a ruckus do we?" she asked smugly. He took his hand out of his cloak and he was pissed. I tried to pry myself free of her grip but it was like a vice, I could not free myself. She looked down at me, seeing me struggle, and smiled even smugger.

She looked up and so did I, Alex did too, we all saw a librarian about 10 steps into the aisle. I felt Alessia drop me and before I even hit the ground she was behind the librarian. One hand on the librarian's waist, another on her right shoulder. I landed on the ground with a thud and winced but did not take my eyes off of Alessia. She smiled and seemed to purr with satisfaction as she bend down and ran her nose an inch from the librarian's neck, the librarian was paralyzed with shock, Alessia exhaled with pleasure. She suddenly opened her mouth, I saw her fangs, and bit down into the women's neck. The librarian flinched and gasped but did not cry out. I saw blood start to pool right outside Alessia's lips. Alex stood, paralyzed, unable to do anything, none of us could do anything to stop her, I thought. That thought sent a shiver of fear down my spine. She let the women drop and wiped her face with her fingers and licked them. "Do you believe now?" She asked "I'm a vampire, you should heed Alex's words well, he knows what he is talking about," She said. She looked at the open window at the end of the aisle, and smiled. She was gone in a flash, I turned around and saw her with the women's body cradled in her hands. She jumped out of the window. I stayed sitting on the ground, wondering what to think, what I should be feeling, I was completely numb. Alex turned to me, and offered his hand to help me up, I took it and he helped me up. "I ask the same question as she did, do you believe?" He asked me. "I do," I said with little emotion in my voice, "Do you want to learn more?" He asked. "Yes, I do" I said. "That is good, let me escort you to our Chapter House in this city," he offered. "Ok" I said, craving to know more about the night, more about the monsters, and more about the new world of darkness that surrounded us, which a few minutes ago. Did not know existed.

_**Author Note:** please write a review, tell me what I did good or right. But more importantly tell me what I did wrong so I can improve. Also tell me if I should bother to write more, or stop wasting my time in thinking of the next chapter._

_This story has some referencings to Vampire The Masquerade tell me if this is bad, in a legal way, and I will take approprate actions._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 : The Society

Alex and I walked the cold, damp streets of Seattle, Washington. We were in a "bad" side of town. It was very dark, the street lamps were... ill-maintained to put it generously, half the lights were out and the other have were dimmed significantly. I saw some people stumbling around in the dark holding bottles in their hands, some were just sitting on the ground. I did not feel conferable here, but I was determined to not let the standing hairs on the back of my neck stop me. I just saw a innocent librarian get killed and the blood sucked out of her by a creature only in my best dreams and worst nightmares would have existed. I wondered, if vampires were real, what else was real?

"You will find out, just how many supernatural creatures that were thought to exist only in myths and dreams are walking among us," he said, almost as if he knew what I was thinking, it disturbed me, no not disturbed, it was only unsettling.

"What is your name?" he asked me.

"My name is Valens," I told him.

"I have so many questions, I'm not sure which to ask first," I told Alex.

"That is ok, I would really be surprised if you didn't. I was exactly the same way you were once I accepted that these... creatures existed," He said as if reminiscing. I visibly shivered from the cold despite my best efforts not to.

"You cold? Here," he said taking off his cloak, revealing a thick black shirt under it, and handing it to me.

"Are you sure you aren't cold?" I asked him but accepted the cloak and pulled it around me.

"No, we will be at the chapter house soon anyway," He responded.

"You never really explained what that is," I muttered, obviously not content with his answer. He chuckled a bit.

"Just like me..." He laughed.

"I'm not trying to be rude or mean but you seem like you're not that affected by the death of that librarian," I said, not sure if I said something wrong or not.

"I am affected, however I have seen worst then what happened to her, much much worst. I wished you had not seen that but you seemed, stubborn, in not believing me," He said.

"Are you saying that you knew that the librarian was going to die?!" I asked loudly.

"No! I did not see it coming, I am just commenting on the timing, it was too perfect, I bet that Alissa," He said her name with contempt, "Knew what I was going to do. So she conveniently arrived to show you the truth and get a... get sustenance, for lack of a better term," He continued.

"I'm sorry for accusing you," I apologized meaningfully.

"It's ok, just keep in mind that we are but mortals 'Shadows and Dust', some say, 'meddling' in affairs of creatures that are much more powerful then we could possibly know," He said, I listen carefully knowing what he had said to be important,

"We are weak, compared to the things that we're 'studying'. If the Arcanum have learned anything about our subjects. Is that if we attract too much attention from any kind of supernatural creature, results could be fatal. Most creatures we watch do not like to be subject to observation, and any kind of 'investigation' from these creatures can put the entire society in serous risk. However do not fool yourself in to thinking that we are not known, we have just not done anything too irritating to incur their full wrath although several memebers of the Arcanum have disappered."

We kept on walking through the dirty damp streets. We stopped about 30 seconds later in front of a large abandoned library. We walked up to the entrance, Alex tapped on the door, 3 times, paused and then 5 more times. A hidden peephole opened and looked at Alex, and closed the peephole, a few clicks of locks later, and the door opened. Alex walked in and I followed him. The "guard" at the door looked like a 30 year-old women with long red hair, she was holding a katana in one hand and a revolver in the other, I saw her take a seat on a wooden stool next to the heavy-duty metal door. We walked into what seemed like a main hall, their were about 10 people in the main hall, I saw huge bookcases, some reaching up to the ceiling 30 feet in the air. I stared in wonder and awe, despite the building being run-downed and abandoned on the outside, it looked more or less like a normal library on the inside. Their were about 10 such bookcases, between each was about 15 feet of clearance, on the 2 sides of the bookcases, were seating areas. Each area had about 5 tables and 7 chairs, I could also see a water jug in the corner with a stack of paper cups. At the end of the bookcases, away from the entrance was a huge bookcase, at least 20 feet high and stretching all the way across the building about 100 yards.

"Impressive," I said blankly, unable to describe how cool this was. You see I'm a nerd and this was like heaven to me, except I was jerked back into reality when my mind flashed the image of Allisia feeding on that librarian. Not heaven, Hell.

"Hello Alex, it is good to see that you have came," A man's voice, high for a guy but rough.

"It's good to be back Walter," Alex said to the man, I looked at the man who was in front of us. He was about 6.2, 160 pounds, dark hair and bright gray eyes, it was kind of unsettling but he was smiling, he had on a loose jacket under his dark purple cloak.

"Who have you brought to us Alex?" Walter asked looking me over.

"I seek to initiate him into the Arcanum," Alex said formally. He gestured me forward and I stepped away from him making myself more open. We were near the bookcases, it seemed everyone stopped what they were doing and came to look at us.

"Dose he know the danger of what this entails?" Walter asked.

"I do," I answered Walter before Alex could speak.

"Have you seen what could happen?" He asked directing the question to me, since I made it seemed like I could fend for myself.

"I've..."I paused.

"Me and Valens saw a vampire feed in the local library tonight," Alex said, answering the question for me.

"Allissia again?" Walter asked.

"Yes," Alex responded with a little disgusted.

"She seems to have a fix on you, you should be careful," Walter stated.

"I know," Alex muttered like he was getting a lecture from a parent. I could tell Alex did not want to discuss this.

"So what do I have to do? To get in?" I asked Walter, trying to change the subject.

"First you need to get the ritual set up," Walter said.

"Ritual?" I asked, nervousness creeping into my voice.

"It's not much, more of a formality then anything else," Alex assured me.

"How long will it take to get ready?" I asked to Walter or Alex, not sure who would answer.

"Until tomorrow night, it should be ready by then, right?" Alex answered seeking confirmation from Walter,

"Yes, tomorrow should suffice," Walter confirmed.

"You should take the boy home, he has a big night tomorrow," Walter said.

"I'm NOT a little kid!" I exclaimed, angered.

"Don't treat me like one, I'm getting into this, you may not have asked it. But you could at least give me the respect of treating me like a adult. Ahuramazda, know I've gone through more shit this night then most adults could handle." I said calming myself the longer I ranted, I wasn't officially an adult, only 17 but still, what I said was true.

"Ahuramazda? That is the Zoroastrianism's god, it means Lord of Wisdom. You a follower?" I heard a women's voice said, I looked at her, she was pretty, straight brown hair, blue eyes, black bordered glasses, she must have been about 5.8 about 130 pounds. She had a green sweater and blue jeans.

"Yes, how do you know?" I asked mystified, almost no one knows who Ahuramazda is. I was more then surprised.

"Oh, I'm a follower, I like to believe that there is a good part in everyone's soul," She answered me. Walter got my attention.

"You are right, I apologize for that, but you should try to get some sleep, chances are that you will be awake all night tomorrow." Walter told me.

"Sorry I just, don't feel that people take me seriously," I admitted. It was true no one took me seriously and I hated it. But I do not like violence that much so I never showed someone that I was serious, that seems to be the only way to show someone in high school that your serious.

"Don't worry about it, you really need to take him home." Walter said first to me then to Alex. Alex motioned me to follow and I did, but before we walked away I looked back at her, she saw me and looked down avoiding my eyes. We walked out of the building. And towards the parking lot.

"Your 17, do you have school?" He asked me.

"Yes," I responded.

"I'll pick you up, would your parents mind?" He asked. I looked away.

"My parents...are dead, murdered, I have provided for myself for 5 years now," I said to him.  
"Really," he said surprised "Where do you live? How do you make money?" He asked.

"I do other people's homework for them for some spare cash, for the main bulk of my income. I make web pages. I also write simple computer programs for people. I live in a small apartment." I told him, "It is a surprisingly good business," I said with a little chuckle, he did too. Who was that girl? I asked myself.

"Her name is Olivia," He answered my thoughts. I hated that.

"Are you sure you can't read minds?" I asked annoyed.

"Come on you can't seriously think that you were that covert when you looked back, anyone looking tell you had the hots for her," I looked away, partially because he was right, mostly because I was blushing, I wasn't fooling anyone.

We turned the corner into the parking lot, their were only 7 vehicles, most were SUVs and vans. But we walked toward one of the only cars in the lot. It was an aqua colored 2008 Audi TT. It was a very nice car, I could not deny it.

"Impressive, really impressive," I said.

"I know, its a good car, more then good it's great," he corrected himself. He got into the drivers side and I got in the passengers, the car's interior was great, heated seats, GPS and sync. You talk and the car dose. We started to drive.

"What's the address?" He asked softly, I could still hear him, the car was almost completely silent.

"The last house on the right on Lional ave." I said to him.

"Thats outside town," He stated.

"Yep," I said. We sat quietly for awhile as he drove me to my apartment.

He was extremely calm, so it surprised me when he told me.

"We are going to be getting to your home a little later then I thought," He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"We are getting tailed," he said with no emotion. I looked at him, eyes wide, we started to accelerate, I watched the speedometer as it climbed to 60 mph in 10 seconds. He wasn't flooring it though. We were going fast, weaving in between cars, I grabbed the hand hold near the door on the roof of the car. He did not take his eyes off the road for more then a moment, but still checked if we were being followed. I could tell without looking we were because he wasn't slowing down. I leaned my back against the seat, trying not to hyperventilate. Alex had enough trouble without me adding to it.

"Dammit, persistent bitch" Alex muttered under his breath, but I still heard. I assumed it was Allissia following us. I looked behind me and saw that the car was being driven with the same amount of control as Alex's but I could tell that she was having as hard a time as Alex was keeping control of the car. We were driving on the highway, going 120 mph now, the other car started to gain on us.

"Get in the back of the car, on the place where your feet would be, there is a rifle, it's loaded. Only show your head to the window, aim and fire, try and hit the wheels," Alex told me calmly.

"Ok, but how are you so calm," I asked.

"It's natural for me, please she is catching up on us," I looked back and saw that she was at 100 feet roughly now she was about 65 feet and gaining slowly. I climbed in the back of the vehicle. The rifle was exactly where Alex said it would be. I sat on the seat, my legs stretched out over the entire backseat, I rested my head against the side window and pulled the rifle up, surprisingly it wasn't too long to touch the glass of the car's back window. I lined up the sight and my target, her left wheel. I took a moment and let my aim rest before pulling the trigger, the recoil was surprising and the rifle recoil near took me off the back seat and I was almost sitting on the floor of the car in the back. I knew that my shot was right because I heard wild screeching and turning of a car. I looked up and saw that the car that was following us had stopped and surprising to me wasn't flipped over. I got out from the back of the car, and into the passengers seat, putting the rifle back where it was.

"Nice shot," he complemented me as I climbed back into the passengers seat.

"Thanks, that was my first time," I said

"Sorry I had to do that but I didn't have much of a choice, she must have wanted us alive or else she would have shot first. I bet she's pissed now," He said a little nervous.

We drove to my house from their making sure no one else was taking an interest in us before heading back. He dropped me off at my apartment.

"Tomorrow after school, I'll come pick you up k?" He asked.

"Right," I affirmed. He got back in his car and drove off, waving at me as he left. I slumped against the wall of the building. Tired as hell, I went over what happened over the coarse of this night. I saw someone get sucked dry and killed, I'm going to be part of a secret society that studies supernatural creatures, and I was in part of a car chase for about 10 minutes and shot a gun for the first time, but best of all I found a nice girl in this fucking city that shared the same remote religion as me. Wow, I had a very busy day today. I reached into my pocket and got my keys, I walked to my door, and put the key in the hole and twisted, but the click of the bolt holding the door never sounded.

"Shit," I said as I realized what was about to happen. The door flew open and a pale hand grasped around my neck with a very forceful pull I was yanked off my feet into my apartment room.

**Author Note: sorry for the cliffhanger but I already have over 2500 words, I know that is a bad excuse though, sorry I've none other. Besides a little cliffhanger once and awhile is not too bad. Review so I know you want to hear more.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Midnight Attack

I could barely breath, her grip around my throat was strong. I was starting to black out, but before my vision was completely blurry I slammed hard against my couch, it was soft but still hurt, I heard at least one spring in the couch break. I started to rub my throat and took gasping breaths, and coughing. I heard her cock a gun, I looked up quickly and saw a gun barrel pointed at my forehead.

"You bastard!" Allisia yelled at me, I moved my head back as much it would go.

"I'm going to make you suffer before I kill you though," She said, quickly she flipped the gun around and was holding the barrel and smacked me across the face with the handle. My head twisted to the side, it hurt like a bitch, but I quickly looked back at her. She grabbed me by the neck I could feel her nails dig into my neck.

"You think your neck is hurting now," She said, I could feel her nails slowly start to extend. I cried out in pain as the nails broke flesh. She threw me across the room and I hit the counter of the kitchen, back of my head first. I slid to the floor, a blood trail followed my head on the counter. She grabbed me by the neck and dragged me to my feet. She hit me in the face with such force that I was sent flying over the surface of the counter, and flipped and landed on my head and the rest of my body followed soon after and I was laying flat on my back. She came into the kitchen and walked over to me, she picked me up and pulled my hair back. Forcing my head back, She slit my throat with her nail I yelled. I fell to the ground and started to bleed out.

"You won't bleed to death but it will hurt for several hours," She said, noticeably calmer then before. "Get some sleep, your going to need it. I'll come back tomorrow night, I'm going to visit you every night for a month. And leave you in a condition that you would welcome death, but I won't give it to you." I don't know how but I managed to get in to bed, after putting a bandage on my neck to help stop the bleeding. A month of this torture, I wasn't sure how but I had to put an end to this I thought as I fell asleep.

I got up the next morning to the ringing of my alarm clock. I got up and turned it off and went back to bed, I still had about 10 minutes before I needed to really get up. I lied in bed trying to get back to sleep like ever morning, and like every morning, I couldn't. I got up and got a bowl of cereal, a general brand of cherros, they are cheaper and you get more food for dollar. I also got a glass of juice, Berry Punch, my favorite. Ahuramazda knows I needed it with the kind of night I had last night, Jezz I thought to myself. I grabbed my backpack and started out the door. Luckily the school was only a mile from my apartment.

School passed by like a blur, it was surprisingly fast . It was lunch time by the time I thought it was second period. I sat at a table by myself like always. My tray consisted of a pair of hot dogs, a small pile of what passes for mac-and-cheese around here and a small salad, with a chocolate milk carton. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye sit next to me. I looked up and to my great amazement Olivia, from last night was sitting next to me.

"Hi," she said to me. I was too stunned to say anything.

"What happened to you last night?" She said concerned as she saw my black eye, split lip and bandage on my neck.

"Allisia attacked me last night after Alex dropped me off at my apartment," I told her, "She wasn't too happy about the tire I blew out with a rifle," I said.

"Oh...did she bite you?" She asked reaching to lift the bandage. I grabbed her hand to stop her, we both froze, I let her hand go.

"No she didn't but she extended her nails into my neck while she was holding me," I explained.

"Oh no," She said.

"Oh yes, she did and she going to visit the same amount of damage on me every night for the next month," I told her.

"Well I bet that will change..." She trailed.

"How? How can I stop her from doing any damn thing she wants to," I said in exasperation, throwing my arms up.

"Well... the Ritual..." She said reluctantly.

"What about the Ritual?" I asked extremely interested.

"Well... I'm sorry for even mentioning it, I can't tell you anything about it, but I can tell you it will help you with your problem," she said, picking up her lunch tray and walking away. Great I thought but I guess that it would be logical to go away, I had a feeling she wanted to tell me something, but she couldn't, so remove temptation. It still hurt but I can see why. Not that, that helped me, I still had a problem of a vampire that wanted me to suffer to death, how was I going to solve this problem. I guess I would have to do some research, but I don't know where to start. I suppose that I could learn more when I go back to that library the Arcanum has set up, with all those books...Some thing is bound to help. Tonight I could go see what I can learn.

The rest of my day went by pretty fast, I was anxious to see what I could learn, and was wondering what Olivia had meant when she said the Ritual could help. I guess that being in the Arcanum could help, with all that information, something is bound to help. I hope. The last bell rang signaling the end of the last period of the day. I walked quickly to the parking lot. And sure enough, there was Alex in his car. Olivia was also in the car too, I guessed she gets a ride from Alex as well. I got in the back seat and Alex drove off, I wanted to question Olivia again but I didn't fearing I'd get her in trouble by telling Alex.

"Alex?" I asked trying to get his attention.

"I know about last night, Olivia told me. She's right, the Ritual will help you," He said. I looked at him, how did he know, did Olivia tell him?

"Olivia, did you..." I started.

"No I didn't tell him. You must have been thinking about it," She said.

"How..." I started, so many questions that I wanted to ask.

"Don't ask, after the Ritual, everything will be clear," She said almost mystically. That was really annoying, I really hopped that their faith in this 'Ritual' was well placed, because if it wasn't I was in real trouble. Alex drove us straight for the "base" I guess you can call it. Alex parked and we all got out of the very nice car. We walked up to the only entrance to the base, Alex knocked on the door the same way he did before, first 5 knocks, then a pause, and last 3 more knocks. The vision slit opened for a second and then closed, a unlocking of a few locks, and the door was open.

Alex led me to the library and up some stairs on the end of the main room with all the shelfs. He led me up the stairs, turned right when we reached the top and we walked down the hall,

"Where are you taking me? If I may ask," I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Your new quarters, you will be staying here for the rest of the week, for your own safety," He said looking back to me, we kept walking.

"Ok," I said. We walked to the end of the hallway, about 100 feet down the hall. At the end of the hall was a door. Alex turned to me and handed me a key. I took it, and unlocked the door at the end of the hall. The door didn't open with any sound, I kind of liked it. Inside was sparse, it was about 10 feet from opposite corners, it had a singles bed and a desk on two different corners. In a third corner was a small dresser. In the final corner, opposite of the dresser was the door we had opened.

"It might not be much, but it is good, and you will be safe from Allessia," He said assuring my fears. "I'll see you in an hour, that is when the Ritual will start," He said, and exited, about to shut the door. His hand still on the door, he stopped, and stilled for a few seconds, his hand left the edge of the door without closing it. Olivia opened the door fully and walked in. I was sitting on my bed, I stood up. She smiled,

"You've got manners, that is something that is lacking around here, but you really don't have to stand up," She said, walking over to the bed, I sat down and she sat down next to me. She sighed and leaned close to my ear, I was about to turn towards her, when she put her hand on the side of my face and stopped me.

"I'm not really suppose to tell you this but, about the Ritual," She whispered in my ear, leaning even closer to me.

"It's going to hurt like hell, worst than anything you ever felt, worst than anything you will ever feel. But I have confidence, if you survive, which I'm certain you will, you will be strong, probability stronger than any of us. I have supreme confidence in you, just live," She said exasperated. She got up and walked out of my room, closing the door softly as she left. I ran my hands through my short cut hair. Worst than I've ever have and will feel, she said, She implied that I might even die from the pain, was it from the pain, she didn't say. I not quite sure why she didn't tell anymore, considering that she wasn't suppose to tell me anything to begin with. I guess she had her reasons though.

**Author Note: I'm sorry for not updating for awhile, I've been working on my other stories, try reading "My Girlfriend's a Vampire!", and "The Enlightened" both are really good.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 : The Ritual

I laid down on the bed and waited for Alex to come get me. I waited for about an hour and Alex walked in with a thin, blue, single piece cloth.

"Here, put this on," He said tossing me a pure white cloth like his. I did as he asked and he beckoned me to follow him down to the library. I followed him. We entered the library, he led me to the side he opened what looked like a cellar door and he pulled out a flashlight and we went down the stairs, they were small steps and pretty steep but I kept my balance and we came to a heavy oak door at the bottom of the stairs. He put a hand on the handle and opened the door. I was surprised I saw a small room, candles were hanging near the ceiling on their own will, like in the Harry Potter movies at Hogwarts. Alex entered the room and I followed him. I noticed that their were people, they had hoods, their head bowed. Their was about 10 of them, most of them had different colored single piece clothing just like Alex. He walked forward and I followed him. He filled in a space in the 'hallway' of people and lifted his hood and also bowed his head like everyone else. I instinctively made my way deeper into the chamber.

I walked over to a man at a podium, he was the only one without his hood up. It was a man named Walter.

"Step into the circle my son," He said. I noticed that everyone had moved closer and formed a semi-circle of people. I stepped into the circle. Walter opened a big old book to the middle, he shuffled through the pages for a second or two until he found the page that he wanted.

"Bow please," He said. I got to a knee and bowed my head. It sounded like Walter was talking in a strange language. He lifted a hand and I saw a red orb of light form in his hand. He continued to speak and I heard the others start to chant something. I couldn't make it out or follow it, the chant was too long for me to remember. The orb of light in Walter's hand started to glow brighter and brighter. He said one last word and I saw a few strands of red light come out of the orb and it hit my skin, I felt it burrow through my skin. I felt unimaginable pain, it was so horrible, like my blood was literally boiling. I fell to the ground, still in the circle, I started twitching. I heard the others still chanting above my own screams of pain, agony and cries of mercy. To end my life rather than let me go though this imaginable pain. But they didn't give me mercy. After about a minute the light disappeared, but I still felt the shock and still twitched.

"Stand," Walter said. I noticed that everyone looked at him. I tried, I got to my knees before succumbing to the pain again.

"Stand," Walter said again louder. I tried yet again and got it, I got up slowly but fell a few seconds after standing but I felt arms catch me before I fell on my face. I passed out very soon after that.

I woke up later, I wasn't sure how much later in a bed. The 'bases' quarter, I still had the pure white cloth on. I tried to get up but was too out of it and only had enough will to stay conscious. I heard the door open. I stirred slightly. I saw Olivia walk over with some food on a tray with a drink. She walked over to my bedside.

"Your very weak, your blood was boiled, your body is producing blood at a steady rate, but if you do much you'll pass out," She told me. I nodded, I couldn't talk.

"You've been out for 3 hours," She told me.

"I knew you were special. No one has ever stood right after the ritual, but you did, and you woke up at a record challenging time," She said.

"Don't worry about school or anything, Alex is bringing some personal effects from your apartment here," She said. I nodded again.

"Sleep, you have a decision to make," She told her. I really wanted to ask what she meant by that but I couldn't talk for the life of me. I fell asleep soon after that. I dreamed something I'd never thought I'd dream. I saw 3 different people. Well...Not really that but 3 selves. One of them look like a figure straight out of hell. He was decked out in black metal armor, with spikes coming out of every inch of the armor. My helmet that I was carrying looked like a deamon's face, he was holding a huge black sword that glowed red. Another self was me in flowing light blue robes, clean shaven and and perfect looking. The 3rd self was somewhat like the second but not quite. I had on several layers of light robes of darker and darker purple, I was also holding a sword upside down, I also had base of the neck long hair. It was like they were all talking at once but none of their mouths moved.

"You have a choice to make Valens," I heard them all say at once, I really didn't like all their voices talking at once.

"Wizard," Only one of them say, a light but commanding voice from the figure in blue robes.

"A Warlock," Said a demonic voice that matched the figure in the armor.

"Or a witch," Said the one in purple ropes light heartedly with a smile.

"You must preform a ritual on the night of the full moon," They said in unison.

"That is in 5 nights, each of us will come to you in a dream and further explain the powers that that self knows. On the 5th night you will not dream and you will perform the ritual of the Warlock, Wizard or Witch. If you fail to do this the you will be killed, the magic power that is now in your blood will rip your body apart if not concentrated," They said in unison. I left that dream and woke up.

I looked around. I saw that it was 9 in the morning. I must have really slept. I started to stir and sat up but felt light headed from getting up so quickly. I stood up from the bed slowly. I saw the door open and Alex walked in.

"Hey Alex," I said.

"Whoa," Alex said.

"Sit please before you fall down," He said. I did as he asked.

"Was this the first time that you woke?" He asked.

"I'm surprised that Olivia didn't tell you, I woke up about 3 hours after going down," I said, his jaw dropped to the floor.

"Your kidding right?" He asked.

"No," I said seriously.

"Wow," He said.

"This is the second time I woke up. I had a weird dream," I told him.

"I had that feeling. So do you know which path you will chose?" He asked me.

"I've got 4 nights before I have to chose my path, it sounds like a very important decision and wished that I had a longer time," I told Alex.

"It is a very important dicision. Everyone in this chapter house is a supernatral or magical creature or one nature or another," He told me.

"What would make you?" I asked him.

"Me? I'm a sorcerer," He said.

"I wasn't given that choice," I told him.

"Well, to be a sorcerer you need to be part of a family line of magic. You see a Sorcerer learns spells, not from a book like a wizard, and doesn't require a focus like a witch, it's similar to a Warlock but not quite the same kind of spells. A sorcerer learns spells by getting dreams of words and gestures but the dream ends right before the effect of the spell goes off so you don't know what the spell is going to do unless you use in yourself in real life," He told me.

"Ok..." I trailed taking in what he was saying.

"A wizard learns spells from books that were originally written by sorcerers, warlocks or other wizards that copied from sorcerers. Anyway. A wizard copies the incantation and gestures into his own personal spellbook. A Sorcerer however knows the spell instinctively and doesn't need to keep a spellbook if that individual doesn't want to. A Witch, can be a guy or a girl. They are also sorcerers but they have what we call a focus, it is literally a focus of the witch's magical powers. They learn less spells than a Sorcerer but their spells are a little more specialized or more powerful than a sorcerer's that is why you can be a witch and not a sorcerer. A warlock's spells are some of the most powerful ever created. However a warlock must have the utmost control and concentration or he may suffer greater backlash effects. Usually when you do something wrong in a spell like a incorrect gesture or mispronunciation, nothing happens, however if a warlock misses something than chances are it will hurt the warlock. You taking all this in right?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I am," I said.

"Good. There is good and evil. Everyone no matter what path they chose can be good or evil. A wizard, and sorcerer generally are good. A witch, are about equal with good and evil, a warlock generally gravitates towards evil however. This is because a Wizard's and Sorcerer's spells generally concentrate on defensive and what we call 'enhancing' spells, a Witch is unusual in that most of their spells are dealing with the body, hurting or helping, curing or cursing. Most of the Warlock's spells are offensive and very powerful. Most people who are warlocks are inadvertently..." He trailed thinking of the right word to use.

"Seduced by their own power. They think they are superior to others and that leads to selfish thoughts and actions and they are evil, greedy, selfish and such. But not only a warlock can succumb to evil. Good and Evil are dictated by your own actions humans are capable of unspeakable evil or great benevolence and don't let anyone convince you otherwise," He said.

"How does a warlock learn his spells?" I asked him.

"Hmmm... Well no one is quite sure how they learn their spells, no warlock has ever revealed how," He told me.

"What exactly happened to me in the ritual?" I asked him.

"Well... Your blood was boiled, all of it and your heart was enchanted to produce magical blood. This blood allows for magical gestures and words to have any meaning, without the blood you wouldn't be able to product magical effects," He told me.

"Wouldn't that kill me?" I asked him.

"Walter made it so that you wouldn't but you'll be a little weak for the next day or so, I'm surprised that your up," He told me.

"So how meny people are in this chapter house?" I asked Alex.

"10. Including you. Their's you a nephroite, me a sorcerer, Olivia's a Fey, Walter he's a wizard, Kayla is a nephroite, she is the one at the door. The ones you haven't met, Rayn, she's our medic, a witch. Tol and Gote are Kayla's brothers and are trained by her to be guards they are also nephroites, and last is Progo, he's our interrogator and is a spellsword," He said, that brought even more questions but he already knew that.

"A nephroite is a magical being that hasn't chosen a path, for magic born, they can stay a nephroite but you must chose a path because you were just given magical blood, where they have had it all their lives. And Fey are faries, they are not small as your palm but, they are smaller than most people. They have several innate powers which I will let Olivia go into if she wants to tell you, but she is also a witch, most fey can't chose a path but once in awhile one does. And a spellsword is a combination of sorcerer's magic and a warriors might, another magic born path. A very potent combination if I might add, they don't know as many spells as a sorcerer but most of their spells do happen to aid the spellsword's body, such as increased speed or strength," He told me. I nodded.

"Are you magic born?" I asked Alex.

"Yes I am, everyone here is except for you," He told me. That helped myself esteem a lot.

"Don't worry about it though, you seem to be a fast learner and you'll get the hang of it in no time," He assured me I wasn't as optimistic.

"No warlocks," I commented.

"Yeah..." He said.

"You need an interrogator?" I asked.

"Not really but he is when we need one," He told me.

"So, what exactly do you do?" I asked.

"Well our primary mission is to study the supernatural, another mission that is just a little more important is to protect everyone from hostile supernaturals," He told me.

"So what do you do?" I asked.

"When we are not studying we go on runs throughout the city to look for signs of the supernatural, if we find them, we see if they are friendly, if not, we do what we can to protect those who need it, usually other mortals," He told me.

"Do you fight?" I asked.

"Well...We seek out hostile supernaturals and convince them to get out of town or not to hurt anyone if that's not possible, we try and get them out," He said.

"Ok," I said. So what do I do in my free time since I haven't picked a path?" I asked Alex.

"Well, you can read up on some supernaturals that we frequently encounter, you can read up on your path choices, or you can follow me and I could show you the training grounds, you can train with Kayla. If you want," He suggested to me.


End file.
